Draft attachment



June 28, 1950 E. H; BLATT-NER DRAFT ATTACHMENT Filed Feb. 24, 195e O O @LN @IQTC mw I United States Patent ce pagante, me ,8,1960

DRAFT ATTACHMENT Emil H. Blattner, Williamsville, N.Y., nssignor` to Symington Wayne Corporation, a corporation of Maryland Filed Feb. 24, 1956, Ser. No. 567,583

4 Claims. (Cl. 213-57) This invention relates to draft attachments for railway vehicles and particularly to center llers. The primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved center filler wherein the king post is reinforced against bending forces by ribs extending tangentially thereto from the side walls of the center ller, whereby the center ller is both simplified in construction and given great strength.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved center Eller of two-piece welded construction in which the king post is reinforced against bending stresses by ribs extending tangentially thereto and which is adapted for either automatic or manual welding.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter in the detailed description, be particularly pointed out in the appended claims and be illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a vertical sectional view taken along the lines 1 1 of Figure 2 of a preferred embodiment of the center ller of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a view partly in plan and partly in section of the center ller of Figure 1, the sectional portion being taken along the lines 2-2 of Figure l;

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view taken along the lines 3-3 of Figure 1; and

Figure 4 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view of the king post and associated structure of a second embodiment of the present invention.

Referring now in detail to the drawings in which like reference characters designate like parts, the improved center filler 1 of the present invention is comprised of a pair of transversely spaced longitudinally extending substantially parallel side walls 2 connected at their lower edges intermediate their longitudinal extremities by a bottom wall or web 3. At its forward extremity each of the side walls 2 has one of the stop lugs 4 of a back stop portion S with which such center fillers generally are provided for enabling them to serve as combined back stop and center filler units.

Intermediate their vertical extremities, the side walls 2 are connected by an intermediate horizontally extending or directed web 6, the latter overlying and being centered relative to but of less longitudinal extent than the bottom wall 3 and merging at either end with one of the several longitudinally extending reinforcing ribs 7 provided on the inner faces 8 of the side walls 2. At the upper edge of the intermediate portion of each of the side walls 2 is an instanding horizontally directed ange 9, the pair of anges, when installed between the center sills (not shown) of a railway car underframe, abutting against the top wall of and serving to position the center filler vertically relative to the center sills. When so installed, the center filler may be xed to the center sills by welding or other suitable means, the side Walls 2 of the disclosed embodiment being provided with a plurality of rivet holes 10 for riveting to the center sills.

Extending between the bottom 3 and intermediate walls 6 of the center filler and centered transversely or laterally relative to the side walls 2 is a king post 11 for the reception of a king pin (not shown) through which a railway truck (not shown) is attached to the underframe.

The principal feature of the present invention is the manner in which the king post 11 is connected to the side walls 2 so as to reinforce it against bending forces or stresses incident to movement of the associated truck relative to the underframe. Conventionally, king posts are reinforced both longitudinally and transversely by radially extending ribs at least one of which is disposed longitudinally of the center filler and connected to its side walls by ribbing spaced from the king post. In the center ller of the present invention, it has been found possible to eliminate the conventional radial ribs `as well as longitudinal ribbing and to substitute therefor, with both simplification of structure and great strength, transverse ribs 12 which extend between and connect the king post 11 and the side walls 2 and are tangential to the otherwise cylindrically-walled king post. A pair of such ribs are employed, the ribs being longitudinally spaced and in the lirst embodiment extending substantially parallel to each other and normal to the side walls. Alternatively, the pair of tangential transverse ribs 12a may are or diverge outwardly toward either side wall and be inclined or oblique relative thereto, as in the embodiment of Figure 4, this construction possessing the simpliiied structure of the rst embodiment and having the additional advantage of a broader bearing on either side wall.

As will be noted, the transverse ribs 12 or 12a, along with the king post 11 and the side walls 2 are provided with lightening holes 13, those in the side walls 2 being of such size as to permit their use as access openings for bucking up rivets when the center filler is so attached to the center sills. Additionally, and further to strengthen the center filler, it is desirable that an instandingrib 14 be provided on each side wall between its intermediate wall 6 and top flange 9.

With the pair of tangential transverse ribs 12 or 12a serving to reinforce the king post 11 against bending stresses, the center iller especially lends itself to a welded construction. Thus, as in the illustrated embodiments, each of the counterpart pieces or parts 15 into which the center filler is divided by its longitudinal center line, may be formed separately, preferably by casting and these parts may be welded together, manually if need be, but more desirably automatically if the facilities are available, to provide the desired strong unitary structure.

It should be understood that the described and disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention and that all modifications are intended to be included which do not depart from either the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

Having disclosed the invention, what is claimed is:

l. In a center ller, the combination with transversely spaced side walls and a king post disposed therebetween, of a plurality of longitudinally spaced ribs connecting said king post to each of said side walls, each of said ribs being tangential to said king post and directly connected to said king post and one of said walls.

2. In a center filler, the combination with transversely spaced side walls and a king post disposed therebetween, of a pair of longitudinally spaced, substantially parallel ribs `directly connecting said king post to each of said side walls, said ribs being tangential to said king post and substantially normal to vsaid walls.-

3. In a center ller, the combination with transversely i si'aa'ced sidewallsandaking dispis'd therebetween, j of ja` pair only of longitudinally spacedrribsl connecting,

said king post to each of said side walls, said ribs of each l pair being tangential to said king post and diverging outa king post dispqsed ,therebetweenanda pairmnlyeof 10 longitudinally spaced ribs cltyllisrtingm JSaid:'lingfspoS1:Wto each of said side walls, `said ribs o f each pair being-:disposed tangential tov-said king post.

f ,l Y. 4.23942,7'38

-JNITED-STATES Y PATENTS Wright June 12, 1923 Anderson Sept. 8, 1925 Kadel f Oct. 13, 1925 Williams Nov. 22, 1927 Barrows Mar. 31, 1931 OConnor May 24, 1932 Garlock t-al., Aug. 8, 1944 Campbell May 28, 1946 Collison Sept. 25, 1951 Blattner s. -;r. v-r-,Eeb: 19 l19157 

